A local government official has said a wildfire burned down two homesteads and killed a cow in Mijak County in Abyei on Wednesday.
Chol Adhol Majok, the Mijak County Commissioner told radio Tamazuj Thursday that the affected households lost all their properties to fire and that he has ordered for a search of perpetrators who lit the fire in the bush.
“The fire started in the forest and I sent people to find those who caused it. It moved to the villages and burned two households with all their properties including granaries of sorghum,” Commissioner Adhol said. “One cow was reported dead and bundles of grass which people use to build shelters were also destroyed.”
He added: “Wild animals ran away but fruit trees like tamarinds and dates and others like mahogany were burned.”
Commissioner Adhol said the overall security situation in the area was good but that a hand pump used by the community to draw water for themselves and their animals had broken down.
Nyandeng Deng, a victim of the fire said her two huts burned to ashes with all belongings.
“The fire came from the forest and it burned our cooking materials, sleeping beds, and all our clothes,” Nyandeng lamented. “Our sorghum did not burn because relatives came and rescued the granaries. Two of our houses burned down.”